HR Turns Triple Play Over Israel’s Capital

HonestReporting is taking a zero tolerance policy against media promoting the falsehood that Tel Aviv, and not Jerusalem, is Israel’s capital. We launched legal proceedings against The Guardian, forcing it, in August, to unequivocally state:

we accept that it is wrong to state that Tel Aviv – the country’s financial and diplomatic centre – is the capital.

But that was just the beginning. We promised that we would not rest until the Press Complaints Commission, that had originally sided with The Guardian, also issued a precedent-setting ruling that The Guardian had violated principles of accuracy when it stated that Tel Aviv was the capital of Israel.

The PCC has now done exactly that, stating:

the Commission concluded that … the unequivocal statement that Tel Aviv is the capital of Israel had the potential to mislead readers and raised a breach of Clause 1 (i) of the Editors’ Code of Practice.

(Clause 1(i) of the Editors’ Code states: “The Press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information, including pictures.”)

Together with Asserson Law Offices, Israel’s leading English law firm, HonestReporting has successfully persuaded the PCC that Tel Aviv is not Israel’s capital. This sets an important precedent that brings to an end any further debate in the British media on this issue. Fatuous claims over the status of Tel Aviv as a means to delegitimize Jerusalem as Israel’s rightful capital will no longer be acceptable.

The PCC has sent a clear message for the UK media to uphold standards on accuracy while HonestReporting has demonstrated the efficacy of pursuing legal action when necessary to defend Israel against media bias.

Daily Mail admits Israeli government is in Jerusalem

While the PCC was considering its position, we caught the Daily Mail, whose website has the world’s largest readership for a news site, making the following error:

I couldn’t get to page 2 for some reason or other possibly because of technical problems with my PC, so I’m sorry if the point I’m about to make has already appeared in others’ comments.

A few weeks ago when the capital question came up, one of the newspapers – it may have been the Guardian – accepted that TA was not the capital, still wouldn’t concede that Jerusalem was the capital, but stated that Jerusalem was the seat of government.

If you look up the word “capital” in many standard dictionaries, you often find it defined as a country’s seat of government!

Extraordinary and refreshing! Good, organized people on the right about truth with intelligent approach and clear purpose! How blessed they are wise and courageous too!
“Comfort, comfort you, MY people.”. May the number of those assesing facts join the numbers of all who know- forever: YERUSHALAYIM,
G-d’s Holy City. Israel: G-d’s chosen land. The Jews, Israelites: G-d’s chosen people. Small victory- great delight.
Happy Sukkot!

Let me thank u all at HR.
First i am glad, of the achievement, of the fact that the errors about the real location of Israel Capital, had been publicly corrected, and at the end of ur determination to fight the opponents of the only democratic state in the Middle East.
May Hashem grant us with more success…May the truth about Israel and it’s all time capital be known by all.

I agree. Jeffrey, will you send your idea to the Israeli Embassy/Consulate? Better still, send it to Netanyahu. – This will be a gift from the U.K! And it may just fix something in the minds of the ignorant and the malicious, because pictures speak a thousand words. The words say what they don’t want to hear, that Jerusalem is the capital, because it offends the poor Palestinians. But a picture of the Knesset and the menorah – and maybe; Jerusalem, Capital of Israel, written on it can’t fail to get the message across.

Heffrey Nakar’s suggestion, above, is a good idea. Any concept that can change the petrified image of Israel abroad is a good idea. It is more than amazing that this is so clear and yet so far from the minds of Israel’s PR people.

Punlicize that the menorah was a gift from Britain to a fellow democracy – l’havdil !

Well done HR. Perhaps it would also help if we changed the image that is always shown to represent Jerusalem.

Instead of showing the Western Wall (which let’s face, no one but the Jews is interested in) with a large mosque behind it, perhaps we should be showing a picture of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament with the giant Menorah in front of it. A democratic image with a Jewish symbol for the capital of the Jewish state.

Martin has touched on a raw nerve. (‘official British Jewry is scared of its own shadow’). The Jewish community does not have any ‘official’ body to stand up for it. Just as in 1939 and throughout the war, our leaders are stymied and scared. We desperately need Honest Reporting and other organisations to speak out for us. And each one of us has also to do what we can to oppose the obvious delegitimisation of Israel, and the elimination of the Jewish people. History shows us that whenever there is a crisis, the Jews get scapegoated. Well, there is a global crisis of one form or another, so blaming Israel is the answer. I for one will not stand by and let it happen again. Protest we must!

Clive, I have just phoned a very close friend, a Mason regarding your post and will wait for his response. When one considers just how many Jewish people are Free Masons in the UK, I find this situation absolutely disgracefull.

Sadly and very unfortunately, official British Jewry is scared of its own shadow and will not rock the boat. I was told years ago by security (now that’s a joke) officials of the British Board of Guardians that they were scared of a backlash. I did a lot of background security work in the UK at that time.

I was involved ( being a nuisance) with those fighting the Arab Boycott of Israel in London and questiooned why M&S bought boycott supported Leyland vehicles.

Most of Anglo Jewry believed that Just as many Englishman/women mistakenly refer to Glasgow as Scotland’s capital through pure ignorance so do many British think that Tel Aviv is Israel’s capital. It came then as no surprise when the UK press state this. Now Honest Reporting has clearly shown that there has been a concerted effort to perpetuate this falsehood in order to delegitimise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Kol Hakavod to Honest Reporting for this! Sadly though the antisemetic media in Britain will continue to do this by other means. They just can’t use the convenience of stating Tel Aviv now.

have you taken action yet against the united grand lodge of english freemasons who have stated tel aviv is the capital of Israel in their 2013 pocket diary? Iemailed you about this several weeks ago.
Yours, Clive Rosen, former hon. officer of the zionist federation.

What a f****d up world we live in. Who would have thought that all this time, effort and money would have to be spent just to get somebody to stop lying about what city is Israel’s capital? It’s insane! All this to have those idiots at the “guardian” admit they were wrong to say Tel Aviv is the capital!!

Just like Israel having to pour so much energy into defence. As it is, look at the wonderful innovations that we all enjoy because of Israel. Imagine if they could put just a fraction of the defence budget into more scientific research. It’s not just Israel’s loss, it’s the loss of all of us on this planet.

Mazaltov and a huge thank you to HR for it’s fight. It definitely takes an organoisation to flex it’s muscle against the virulent Zionist/Jew/Israel haters.

I do write to papers to correct some of the malicious accusations and allegations. and they do get printed. Hoever, this is on a different scale.

The Daily Mail with David english as editor made a dramatic turn when he vowed tha his paper would not support the Jew haters and made it clear that he would support Israel. Which he did. Sadly then, Max Hastings took over and along with invited hateful “columnists” made the usual attacks on the Israeli government. They do have some very pro Israel columnists too.

‘Somebody’ heard you! Well done, HR. Thank Goodness you are here to stand up for Israel and the Jewish people’s rights. For we are defending them on every level, in every country now. The major difference between anti-Semitism now and in the past? They didn’t have Honest Reporting to be vigilant and challenge the thinly disguised prejudices. It would be interesting to show a list of all the U.K.media bias, ‘errors’ distortions, omissions, and other ways that Israel has been misrepresented in the British media.

Well Done!!! The British, for whatever their reasons, have turned anti-Semitic in the years following their abandonment of the Transjordan. After the ’67 war and the Arab defeat, it has gotten worse. Now the UK is re-assessing its immigration policy. Perhaps there will be a turnaround in the influx of Muslim refugees into Londonistan!
I don’t harbor any illusions that the BBC with its inherent left wing ‘elites’ will change anytime soon. Organizations like yours must continue to fight SOBs like them. My contributions, modest as they are, will continue………GO HR!!

What do you man “turn anti-Semitic”? When were they NOT so? Go back and read Shakespeare and his depiction of the Jews – Fagan, and so on. And the attitude of the British in barring Jews from fleeing to Palestine during the 30’s and 40’s. And the British support for only the Arabs during the years of the Mandate. And that the British turned over their military installations and equipment to the Arabs before finally leaving Palestine. And so on, and so on.